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Reigning champions England are facing a challenging situation as their future in the T20 World Cup looks increasingly uncertain. England’s campaign has been hampered by a washout against Scotland and a loss to Australia, putting them on the brink of an early exit ahead of their match against Oman in Antigua on Thursday.

Jos Buttler’s side needs a series of favorable outcomes to qualify for the Super Eight stage. They must decisively defeat both Oman and Namibia and rely on Scotland suffering a heavy defeat in their final group match against Australia. This scenario would leave England tied on points with Scotland, bringing net run rate into play.

Currently, Scotland has five points and a strong net run rate of 2.164, while England has one point and a net run rate of -1.8.

Complicating matters further, if Australia, already through to the next stage, plays in a manner that ensures Scotland advances at England’s expense, it could effectively manipulate the standings.

Following their match against Oman, England will face Namibia on Saturday, with Australia and Scotland clashing on Sunday. The timing of the matches could allow Australia to calculate the required margin of victory to secure their position while aiding Scotland’s progression.

Josh Hazlewood Indicates Australia to Help Scotland

Australia’s fast bowler Josh Hazlewood indicated it would be beneficial for them if England were eliminated early, given their strong performance capabilities. “In this tournament, you potentially come up against England again, and they’re probably one of the top few teams on their day,” Hazlewood said after Australia’s nine-wicket victory over Namibia.

“We’ve had some real struggles against them in T20 cricket, so if we can get them out of the tournament, that’s in our best interest as well as probably everyone else’s. It’ll be interesting to see. We’ve never really been in this position before as a team. Whether we have discussions or not, or we just try to play the way we played [against Namibia], that’ll be up to the people in charge, not me,” he added.

The match between Australia and Scotland in St Lucia will commence hours after ’s game against Namibia, potentially giving Australia an opportunity to strategize to ensure their and Scotland’s advancement while knocking out England.

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